


tell the world i'm coming home (i'm home)

by nerdiests



Series: Linked Universe Weekly Prompts [7]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Technically OC-Centric, but not really? like. it's about warriors and his boyfriend, i will go Down with these two they're so CUTE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 20:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20766503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdiests/pseuds/nerdiests
Summary: Warriors has a boyfriend. No one believes him.





	tell the world i'm coming home (i'm home)

**Author's Note:**

> WHOOO I AM WRITING ABOUT AN OC AND NOT FEELING **ANY** SHAME  
many thanks to silona for listening me ramble on about these two for four hours at _least_  
for the LU discord prompt of fluff week!!

It was a typical day. For them, at least. Twilight had settled down along with the rest of the group, and he had forgone his typical patrol of an area in favor of eating something. Plus, this was an area he was pretty familiar with. It was his Hyrule, it’d be fine. Either way, Twilight kept an ear out for trouble, and he spotted at least half of the group doing the same thing. His other ear was occupied by the chatting the group had engaged in. 

“...And that’s how I managed to knock myself out at a party that was being thrown for me!” Wild finished. The rest of the group didn’t look impressed, and Twilight raised a solitary eyebrow. 

“How did you manage to knock yourself out with a  _ table _ ?” Four asked incredulously. There was a scoff from Legend’s direction.

“It’s Wild, what do you expect?” Legend replied in a deadpan. There was a protest on Wild’s part as Four put a hand on his chin, thinking for a moment.

“I mean… You’re not wrong?” Four said, as Wild made an offended face in the background and Wind started cackling at Wild’s expression. Time sighed, sounding fond as he did, and everyone looked over at the eldest of the group. Twilight raised an eyebrow silently, and Time glanced over at him. 

“That just reminds me of when Malon and I were younger. I spent so much time racing Epona at the ranch trying to get her attention, beating records over and over. One time, though, after I’d finished one such race, I forgot I was still on Epona and tried to take a step forward and fell right out of the saddle and into a puddle of mud,” Time said, gazing off into the distance with a warm expression. Twilight’s expression grew fond himself, and he could spot the others’ reactions. Sky had a soft smile on his face, and… Warriors looked like he was thinking of someone. 

“I just. I love her. She’s my everything,” Time said quietly, but he made up for the volume with the pure emotion in his voice. 

“It must be nice to have someone like that in your life,” Hyrule remarked quietly from across the campfire. Time nodded absentmindedly. Twilight gave the smallest of nods himself, and spotted Sky and Warriors doing the same. Twilight noticed Legend give Warriors a curious look for a moment, before turning back towards the group. It was a bit confusing on his part, Twilight thought. Warriors, knowing that feeling? It didn’t seem likely, but you could never know. 

“It is. I hope all of you can find that person, one day, and to the one that’s already found them already - Sky, I wish you and your Zelda all the happiness you can find,” Time said. Sky’s face went red, and Warriors’ brow furrowed.

“I have a boyfriend, you know.” The camp went silent.

“I’m sorry,  _ what _ ?” Legend looked over at Warriors with a skeptical expression on his face. 

“Mr. Ladies’ Man, with a significant other? How long have you been dating, a few weeks?” Legend continued. The rest of the group was watching their exchange, though some looked a lot more confused than the others. Warriors hadn’t ever brought up having a boyfriend! 

“Try two years, Legend,” Warriors replied evenly, and Twilight’s jaw dropped.  _ Two  _ ** _years?_ ** That’s one long-term relationship. 

“You never mentioned you had a boyfriend, Warriors!” Wind piped up, seemingly over the shock that Twilight had noticed play out in excruciating detail. 

“It never really came up,” Warriors replied offhandedly, waving a hand somewhat dismissively. 

“It never came up?  _ Really _ ?” Four asked, sounding skeptical. There was a moment of silence. 

“Yeah, Four. It just didn’t,” Warriors said, moving his hand to grab something from under his tunic. To Twilight’s surprise, he pulled a locket from under his tunic and held the end of it in his palm. 

“He gave me this locket so that whenever we were apart I wouldn’t forget him. I gave him an identical one for the same reason,” Warriors said, glancing down at what Twilight presumed was the actual locket itself with a warm look. There were soft expressions all around, but Twilight noticed that Four still looked skeptical. 

“I don’t believe that,” Four replied. Twilight looked over at Four, as did about half of the group. Some people, like Sky and Hyrule, were still processing the revelation that Warriors had given them and were just sitting with their mouths open in shock. 

“Well next time we’re in my Hyrule I’ll just have to introduce all of you to him,” Warriors said determinedly. Four raised an eyebrow. 

“Is that so? I’d like to meet this mystery man,” Four said, crossing his arms as he spoke. Twilight chose this moment to speak up. 

“Whoa, no need to get all... Confrontational?” Dammit. That ended on more of a question then Twilight would’ve liked. That snapped all the others from watching the two argue, in a way. 

“I wanna meet your boyfriend, Warriors!” Wind said enthusiastically. Legend nodded, though his face looked less enthusiastic and more curious than anything. Warriors turned towards Wind and gave a soft smile - that seemed to be a trend with Warriors when he talked about this mysterious boyfriend. 

“Of course. I’ve been meaning to stop by and see him for a while,” Warriors said, tucking his locket back under his tunic. At that, the almost spell that had fallen over the group ceased, and everyone started mulling about as the sun started to set. Warriors pulled another book from his pack - how many books did he have? Was his pack secretly a portable library? Twilight wasn’t sure - and started to read. Predictably, it was a romance novel. As everyone else started to do their own thing, Twilight pulled out a pad of paper from his own pack, and some charcoal. Might as well pass the time doing something interesting, at least. Time to try and sketch something. 

* * *

Predictably, the Hyrule they ended up in was in fact,  _ not _ Warriors’ Hyrule. And neither was the one after that. It was a bit frustrating, on Twilight’s part. Currently, they were in Wind’s Hyrule, and he’d taken all of them on a joyride on the Spirit Train. Twilight  _ cannot _ say he enjoyed it. He’d stick to riding horses, thank you very much! Plus Wind didn’t exactly obey the laws posted by the tracks, so the ride was… Bumpier than it probably should’ve been. He didn’t appreciate that one bit. To be fair, though, Wind was a pirate. What pirate followed the rules? 

Either way, Twilight didn’t enjoy the joyride Wind had taken the whole crew on. Unsurprisingly, Wild loved the whole thing. Of course he did, the adrenaline junkie. At least Twilight wasn’t alone in his dislike. Legend didn’t seem to care much for it either, and neither did Hyrule. Sky stuck his head out the window the whole time, Four seemed to be inspecting the machinery more than anything, and Time… Twilight didn’t know what Time was thinking. Warriors, though… He was just wistfully looking out the window as they crossed a bridge over the ocean. Twilight caught him looking at that locket more often, probably because the group knew about the existence of the mysterious man that had caught his heart. Twilight hoped they’d go to Warriors’ Hyrule soon, if only so Warriors didn’t look like someone had stepped on a puppy in front of him. 

That afternoon, they’d headed for Outset Island, and Wind spent the rest of the day playing games with his sister and dragging everyone into it. That next morning, when they were all making preparations to leave Outset, the scenery changed quite drastically. And that is when Warriors started to grin. 

“We’re in my Hyrule. We’re in  _ my _ Hyrule,” Warriors said, his grin growing manic. Twilight glanced over at him. It had been a few weeks since Warriors had pledged to let all the others meet his boyfriend, but Twilight still remembered. Twilight remembered, and he noticed Four perk up from across the group. Apparently he hadn’t forgotten either. 

“Aren’t you going to take us to meet that mystery man of yours, Warriors?” Four asked, sounding a lot more self-satisfied than he had any right to be. Twilight thought Four was waiting to be proven right. 

“Oh absolutely. And we’re just in the right part of the woods to get there after the rush hour ends,” Warriors said, his grin only getting bigger. 

“...Rush hour?” Legend asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. Warriors only gave a cryptic smile and started walking, and quickly made his way to the front of the group. No one moved to follow him, and Warriors turned back and gave them a Look. 

“What’re y’all waiting for? C’mon!” Warriors said. For another moment, the group was frozen, before Twilight shrugged his shoulders and started walking. That motion spurred the rest of the group into action, and soon they were all moving through the woods. Warriors had a pep in his step, and as the forest thinned out, Twilight could see a sprawling village ahead of him. Warriors’ grin only grew wider at that, Twilight noticed, and he started to smile slightly himself. This was going to be nice, Twilight thought. Warriors had been looking so wistful for  _ weeks _ . If this would get him to stop? And make him happy? Twilight could be happier if he knew that one of his friends - no, brothers - was happy. 

The walk into the town was greeted by enthusiastic townspeople greeting Warriors with platitudes and happy faces. A lot of people started directing them towards a specific building, though, with exaggerated winks. 

“Someone’s been missing you, Link,” a short woman said, winking at Warriors, who’s face went slightly red. 

“Well I’m here to see him,” Warriors replied, fiddling with the end of his scarf a bit. Was Warriors… Nervous?

“You just missed rush hour, so it’ll be empty,” the woman continued, and Warriors’s face got less red as he started to grin. 

“Brilliant.” In quick fashion, Warriors gave his goodbyes, before dragging the group off to another street. He honed in on a small storefront, with a glass window displaying the pastries within, and Twilight glanced up at the sign.  _ Heroic Baked Goods _ . Hm. Warriors smiled up at the sign, before looking into the store for a moment and grinning. Without a word, Warriors stepped inside. Curious, Twilight followed after, and the rest of the group spilled in. 

As the door opened, there was a pleasant ringing sound above the door. Twilight glanced up and spotted a small bell. How nice. There was a jostling sound in the back, a thud, and a muffled curse. Not shortly after, a tall and burly man stepped out from the kitchen. 

“Hi, how can I-” The man cut himself off when he saw Warriors. Twilight could  _ see _ the hearts in Warriors’ eyes as the man ducked around the counter and Warriors ran at him and jumped. The man spun Warriors around, before dipping and kissing him soundly. In the periphery of Twilight’s vision, he spotted Wind making a face and Four’s jaw dropping. When the man set Warriors down, both of the two had dopey grins on their faces. As the taller man put his arm around Warriors’ shoulder, Warriors looked back at the group.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Thom. My boyfriend.” 

As with everything involving Warriors and the finally revealed mystery man, everyone had gone silent. Thom looked down at Warriors, his brow raising.

“Are your travelling companions… Normally like this?” he asked, and Warriors chuckled.

“No, they’re just surprised that you actually exist. They seem to think I’m a notorious ladies’ man,” Warriors replied with a laugh. 

“To be fair, you were quite the sight on the dating scene,” Thom replied. Warriors shrugged.

“None of them compare to you though,” he said simply, and Thom’s face  _ lit up _ . 

“ _ Pumpkin, _ ” Thom said, moving his hand not slung over his boyfriend’s shoulders to cover his face. 

“What? I wouldn’t lie, Thom,” Warriors said teasingly, and Twilight stepped forward from the group.

“Sorry about everyone else, they’re processing still. And I think Four owes you an apology, Warriors,” Twilight said, looking at Warriors before directing his gaze to Thom. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet the mystery man Warriors hasn’t been telling us about. My name’s Link, but you can call me Twilight,” he continued, catching Thom off-guard for a moment. 

“I… Sorry, you said  _ Link _ ? But I… What?” Thom turned to Warriors, the confusion evident on his face.

“You remember when I told you about how the other versions of me fought across the time stream with me, hon? It’s like that, but a bit different. The mischievous one is the one in blue, by the way,” Warriors said, and Wind gasped. 

“ _ Just _ mischievous! I’ll have you know that I am a  _ pirate! _ We aren’t just mischievous! We’re downright  _ troublemakers! _ ” Wind said, sounding offended. For a moment, Thom stared at the assembly of Links, before he burst out into laughter. 

“Well this isn’t what I was expecting this morning, but I can’t say that I’m not surprised,” Thom said, looking back at Warriors with a fond expression. 

“I”m just happy you’re home, pumpkin,” Thom continued, before leaning down and giving him a peck on the cheek. Warriors’s face went slightly pink, but he still smiled. 

“So all y'all are named Link? D’you go by nicknames?” Thom asked, turning back to the group curiously. Twilight nodded. 

“There’s Wind, Four, Wild, Legend, Hyrule, Time, Sky, and your Link goes by Warriors,” Twilight said, pointing to each of the aforementioned Links in turn. Thom grinned.

“Well ain’t that appropriate,” Thom said, before he paused and nearly smacked himself in the face. 

“Oh where  _ are _ my manners! Would any of y’all like a pastry? We have more than that, of course, but we have mostly pastries in stock currently. Free of charge,” Thom said. Wild’s face lit up right as Warriors paled. 

“You shouldn’t’ve said that, hon,” Warriors said gravely, and Thom looked down at Warriors for a moment.

“Now why should I not offer your travelling companions food?” Thom asked, looking back up. Then he saw Wild. 

“Oh.” 

* * *

Eventually, the group moved up to Thom’s apartment above the bakery, where Warriors told the tale of why he’d been gone for so long. The others chipped in occasionally, either adding bits or making course corrections, and Thom listened attentively, trying to keep his mind off of the veritable mountain of pastries that Wild had eaten. He’d closed up shop early for the day, citing that he needed some time with his hero. Well, his hero and his eight companions. 

“So, let me get this straight-” Warriors cut in with a laugh, and Thom smacked him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Let me get this about as straight as I can manage. The eight of you and my Link here have been travelling through the Hyrules so you can find whatever brought the nine of y’all together?” Thom asked, getting a series of nods. 

“We might have a lead, but we’re not sure on it yet,” Time said. Thom nodded, almost absentmindedly, while Warriors leaned into Thom’s side from their spot on the love seat. Twilight smiled slightly at the sight. The two really were in love. 

“Mmm. Well, for as long as you’re willing to stay, I can get all y’all free rooms in the inn - I used to work there before my Link here loaned me the money to get my bakery off the ground,” Thom said. 

“You have enough money to help get a  _ business _ started?” Hyrule asked, shocked. Warriors shrugged.

“I’m pretty well off,” Warriors said, somewhat absentmindedly. Thom raised an eyebrow.

“Now that’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one,” Thom said, and Warriors glanced up.

“What? I’m not wrong,” he said. There was a loud sigh, and Thom looked back at the rest of the group.

“What Link means? He paid for me to have this whole space and for ingredients to start off until I got off the ground, and said I wouldn’t have to worry about paying him back for it. Like I wouldn’t pay you back, pumpkin,” Thom said. Warriors waved a hand dismissively as the group continued to watch their back and forth.

“You really don’t have to pay me back - I gave you the money, I didn’t loan it,” Warriors replied, sitting up to look Thom in the eye. 

“Yeah, but I’d feel bad about it if I didn’t!” Thom said. Twilight paused, watching the back and forth banter that the two had started. It was like watching a tennis match, he thought. And apparently so did the rest of the group. There was a lot of back and forth and back and forth… 

“Um,” Twilight interrupted, right as Warriors was about to refute a point Thom had brought up about something. The two looked over at him, thunder in their gazes. 

“ _ What? _ ” the two asked in unison, before they both paused. 

“It’s been… What, fifteen minutes? I think getting sleeping arrangements hammered out would be really nice,” Twilight said. There were some scattered nods, and Time sat up a bit straighter on the stool he was borrowing - why was Time on a stool? 

“Yes, it would be nice to know where we’re sleeping for the night,” Time added in, getting scattered nods from the rest of the group. At that, Thom nearly slapped himself in the face. 

“ _ Of course _ , I am so sorry. I can take the eight of you over to the inn and get you rooms, probably free breakfast tomorrow, and you can all come over for dinner tonight - Link, do you want to help me make dinner?” Thom turned to Warriors, who made a face. 

“I’ll mess up what you’re trying to make, you know,” Warriors said, and Thom only raised an eyebrow in return. 

“I’m making chicken. And stuffing,” Thom replied. One could  _ see _ the stars in Warriors’ eyes as he sat up and turned towards Thom. 

“I’ll make the stuffing,” Warriors said quickly, and Thom started to laugh. 

“Alright, alright. You can make the stuffing, I know you like that,” Thom said, before turning to the rest of the Links.

“Let’s get you set up in the inn, shall we?” 

* * *

The group spent a whole week in the town. Warriors looked happier than Twilight had seen him the entire journey, and Twilight was happier because of it. The inn was wonderful, and the town was nice. It reminded him of Ordon, with the close-knit comraderie the town had. But eventually, all good things had to come to a close. They switched out of Warriors’ Hyrule and into Hyrule’s Hyrule at the end of the week. As Hyrule took the lead, with Legend and Time following close behind, Twilight sidled up to Warriors. 

“This past week was nice,” he said, and Warriors smiled slightly.

“Yeah.”

“I hope you can see him again soon.”

“I do too.”

And as the group continued to walk on, Warriors and Twilight walked in companionable silence, as Legend and Hyrule started to argue over which way to go and Time mediated. Just a typical afternoon for them. 

**Author's Note:**

> here's my [tumblr](http://nerdiests.tumblr.com)


End file.
